Improvement in wash-boards



C. C. GRIDLEY & C. W. PRATT.

' WASH-BOARDS,

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CHARLES O. GRIDLEY AND CHARLES W. PRATT, OF WATERLOO, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN WASH-BOARDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 176,783, dated May 2, 1876; application led April 8, 1876.

To all whom t may concern Be it known thatwe, GHARLEs C. GRID- LEY and CHARLES W. PRATT, ofV Waterloo, in the county of Seneca and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Wash-Boards; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact `description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which,- f Figurel is an elevation of our improved wash-board, looking on the rear side. Fig. 2 Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on an enlarged scale.

Our improvement relates to wash-boards which are curved transversely, having 'a as shown in the patent of Joseph Keech, October l5, 1855. In an extensive manufacture of said boards we have -found that the longitudinal middle bearing-bar framed to the wood-work is insuiicient to support the plate, the plate sagging. or depressing on each side of the same under action, soon drawing the edges of the plate out of their supporting-grooves in the frame, and thus allowing the plate to bend or break over the sharp edge of the bar, thereby cracking the plate in the line of the corrugations, and soon rendering it useless. So great has been this difliculty it has been a serious obstacle to the manufacture of the goods. As an improvement on this wash-board, our invention consists of a curved bridge or stay attached at the back of the plate, conforming to its curva- A ture, and made level or liush, on the back side,

plain board. The plate is corrugated trans` versely, as usual, and the edges of the board rest loosely in grooves c c, Fig. 3, formed in the sides of the frame. C is the bridge or stay attached at the back of the corrugated pla-te. 0n the front or contact side it is made curved in cross-section, to conform closely to the curvature of the plate, while on the back it is plain or tlat, and extended, so as to come iiush with the bottom of the depressions b b, as shown in Fig. 3. It thus exactly lills the hollow on lthe back side in the center of the plate. The bridge is made of wood, and in one or two parts, as may be desired. It is,

preferably, made in two parts, as the two opposite curves or angles can thereby be fitted more easily and accurately to the swell ofthe plate. By the use of this bridge or stay, constructed as described, and attached at the back of the plate, we obviate the great difficulties which have been heretofore experienced from the bending or breaking down of the plate over a narrow bar, and its edges drawing out of the supporting-grooves under pressure. 'The great advantage is, that the whole center-ridge or swell of the plate is vstidened clear back transversely to the bottom of the depressions, but at the same time the thinning down ofthe wood as it nears the edges allows a certain degree ot' elasticity of the plate at the depressions, which is desirable in washing, and which would Ilot he produced if the wood covered the entire back of the plate.` p v We do not claim, broadly, a supporting-bar in the `center of the plate; but

What we claim as new is- The combination, with thev plate B, of the longitudinal bridge or stay C, attached at the back of the' plate, made curved in crosssection, to tit thecentral curvature of the plate, and lling the entire central depression of the plate on a line with the depressions b b, as shown and described, and for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof we have hereunto signed our names in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES o. eRiDLEY. CHARLES W. PRATT. Witnesses:

WM. L. MERCER, M. l). MEReER. 

